In 1966 I was six years old and living in a modest Chicago suburb. Neighbors a few doors down, a beautiful couple, brought one of these home and pulled in, got out and stood back looking at their car. Everyone who was near stopped what they were doing and walked up to see. You should have heard that car laying the beef in park. I have been a fool for the car and truck world since then. You really need to put this side by side with its contemporaries to see what Olds really achieved. Thank you J.
This was definitely a reminder of a more elegant car from a more civilized age. I'm a bit younger than you but, yes...living in the suburbs of ANY American city and hearing about someone in the neighborhood "bringing home a new car" was truly a civic and community event into the 70's and 80's. It wasn't so much about the car unless it was something special and or unusual like this Tornado or a Corvette...it could literally be ANY new car being brought home in the neighborhood. And it was a symbol of that family's success and it was a real celebration by the neighborhood of that success. We would have an impromptu, informal potluck right there on the sidewalk in front of the lucky family's house. The host would setup some tables and then piles of food would just show up from all corners of the block. The men would stand around with the hood open discussing the engine and transmission while the ladies would keep the food in order and the drinks cold with the occasional comment about "grocery capacity" of the trunk. Finally, the kids would be running around in the yard and taking turns sitting in all the seats or if it was a station wagon, we'd pile into the back with the rear facing "tail-gunner" seats. They were not always the best of times but, they were the only times we ever knew...
corvusala ... The Toronado. Riviera. Eldo. Mark III. Mark IV. Mercury had many beautiful cars. Even Chrylser! There were so many it was mind boggling. The 60s was truly the peak of automobile beauty. Nothing to this day can compete.
Possibly, but today's cars are so much better in every other way. I don't miss carbs or automatic chokes or dashboards that rattle or fenders and quarter panels that start rusting out after 3 years. If you want to talk about the best American cars ever made I would bring up the 2010 Mustang Cobra or early 2000's Corvettes. If you're a truck person there has never been a better time than right now except for the prices.
I'm a retired automotive designer. I was in high school when the '66 Toronado came out, and it was one of the cars that inspired me to go into the field. Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to meet Jay Leno through a friend of his, and Jay gave me and another designer a tour of his car collection. I was really impressed with how knowledgeable he was, but most of all I was impressed at how down to earth he was.
@@johntechwriter I'm the person that wrote the comment. The nofooln Gmail account was closed a while ago, and your question made it to another email that uses the nofooln name. I was at Chrysler for 30 years and worked on a number of programs. I started on the K Car interior and moved to exterior design after that. Programs include the G Body, J Body, H Body, T115 minivan, LH cars, N Body minivan, second gen Neon, some Viper development, PT Cruiser, various Dodge Truck projects, and finally the Challenger. I started as a designer on the board and retired as a studio director. It was an interesting career seeing the company evolve over the years!
We owned a 67 Toronado. It was a great car for a number of reasons. My favorite thing (because I was a little kid), was the button on the inside of the glove compartment that opened up the trunk. I LOVED to press that button.
Jay is soo lucky to be able to buy and restore all of these cars! I envy him and admire him because he´s still not bragging about it! Would love to meet him and to see all the fantastic cars!
I was 16 when these came around, my good friend 's dad bought a gold one like in this video, and an emerald green with beige vinlyl top for his mother, they owned the shrimp packaging plant in my hometown on the Texas gulf coast. These cars had a speedometer that registered to 150mph! We outran the state patrol all the way from Port Lavaca to Mustang Island in one, and slid onto the ferry that took people to Mustang Island from Port Aransas, we were already in the channel and saw the cops slide up to the gate unable to get to us. They came the next day to the house in Palacios and issued the ticket the next day. We would back up and shift it into forward and smoke the front tires for a block and a half. Friggin so powerful muscle cars back then. 455 motors were awesome!
My mom had a white one in the early 70's in Corpus Christi. She said you could get it out on the interstate and said before you knew it, you were doing 100mph. A real smooth fast car.
Not gold but bronze, like the Citroëns that inspired it. Your abuse of the car’s FWD was echoed by the sons of our town ‘s GM dealer. Known to be rich-kid creeps by all us teens their age, they tried to do a wheelstand by putting the car in reverse, applying the brakes, and flooring the throttle. That car was sold as new to a middle-aged man, known in our small town as a drinker. One night, loaded, he entered a sharp turn at speed and plowed off the road into a tree, resulting in his death. Thank goodness he did not cause the death of some innocent passenger, as is so often the case.
My brother had 1 of these ... I stold it as I did often..with my brother, and his cars. It was quite a surprise when I did a burnout and the right front tire started smoking...this was my introduction into front wheel drive...thank bro after all these years..
I still remember being picked as one of the students in my fourth grade class to have breakfast with my teacher at the end of the 1965-66 school year. She and her fiance pulled up in my parents' driveway in his car -- a brand new dark red 1966 Olds Toronado! To me it was the closest thing to riding in a starship that I could have ever experienced! It looked like no car I had ever seen before. It had A/C, power windows, tilt and telescoping steering wheel -- stuff we take for granted now, but it felt like a ride in a limousine to 9-year-old me!
@@pnotuner1 i get that, but he should. it took a lot of custom engineering to do that type of conversion. for the power-plant he wanted, just wasn't enough room for that and front wheel drive. this project is a bit odd for Jay, he usually favors a back to factory spec type resto. glad to see him thinking outside the box on this one.
Mr Grandfather owned a Studebaker, Mercedes-Benz dealership in St. Petersburg FL. Stewart Jones Motors. My Dad was Sales Manager and one of the things he would do was drive home different trade-ins, to help keep their batteries charged. My "role" was to wait for my Dad, to see what car came up our driveway. I would then sit in the driver's seat & study the car inside & out. Plus, I always read the Owners Manual. I was born in 1958, so my car education came during the 1960s, what ever Dad was driving home at the time. It provided a well rounded appreciation for different manufacturers makes & models. If he found a car he particularly enjoyed, he would repeatedly drive home the same car, until sold. One of the cars he liked was a 1966 Toronado also in the gold color. For a kid, one of the coolest features were the pop-up CORVETTE headlights, as I called them. I vividly remember riding up front with my Dad. (Also loved the flat floors.) When he turned on the lights, seeing the headlight doors popping up as viewed while inside the car, made me feel I was riding in a sports car. GM Design was so beautiful during the 60s. The 1966 Tornado is one of my fond automotive childhood memories. Takes Jay for bringing in the Designer, to educate us.
My grandfather had a 66 toro and my dad drove it a few times. He loved it. My dad and his dad took it out a did 125 mph. It was a great Oldsmobile. The look is still there.
1966 was a great year for Olds, especially owing to the Toronado and the 442 W-30. Only 54 1966 W-30's were produced. Very rare today. Dave Smith, now deceased, was the W-30 project engineer for the W-30. A brilliant engineer.
Still fun to watch. My father in law was an engineer for Sag steering gear, him and 4 other guys did the testing on this car in the dead of winter into Michigans U.P. some crazy photos of 40 below and 8 ft drifts.
MY Dad had this car in 1966. I was 16 year old and was tasked (yuk yuk) with taking the Tornado to the car wash twice a week.... That car was amazing. The sheer force of front wheel drive and me pressing the accelerator to the floor was so exhilarating! Nothing on the road that was stock could keep up with it... What a car!
It was so exclusive it had its own dedicated assembly line for quality control. The second generation Toronado with all of their elegance and the emphasis on personal luxury, attracted many new buyers.
Jay....... Your show is just full of awesome! When you hugged him at the end... WOW!! I dont know who was more excited, Him or you? That is why you are cool in my world! Thanks again.
Elimination of the hump was a big part of the design of this car. I had a stepfather who always drove Toros, and loved them. I learned a bit about them from him,was a fairly prestigious car in the early 70's to those who knew what they were. Back in the 60's Olds was GM's highest quality car after Cadillac, That the 2 marques shared a platform in the toro/eldo showed how important this design was to them.Both were good in snow and ice,something not mentioned.
In my area when I was a kid you never saw a Tbird or Caddy, so in 1967 someone move in down the street and had a new Toronado in a dark metallic brown and looked like a car from the future. I remember the low stance and fender flairs plus the huge slotted rims that cooled the drum brakes that had to stop this beast.
I was five years old when my dad bought one new in 66 that was a twin to yours . He had many over the years. He passed in 2010 but I have 66 and 67 that he found in the early 1970's. I think of him every time I drive one. Thank you for making me feel five years old again and best wishes on your recovery.
Yea Jay and TH-cam. So glad these interviews and car stories are available for the world to enjoy. I was a senior in high school when the Toronado came out and it seemed like Oldsmobile had joined the space age. I agree that the 66 was the best in styling, but the addition of disc brakes in 67 was an improvement. In 66 Toronado and Riviera had more fluid styling than the boxy T-Bird, but they all would have been better if a foot shorter and 500 pounds lighter. 🙂
My dad was a car nut, he bought the 1966 Toronado when first introduced. I was 17 years old, it was like a space ship to me. The most impressive thing was its size and long expansive hood.Being an incorrigible kid, one weekend when he was away on a business trip, (he foolishly left the keys in it), I decided to take it to the local drag strip. GOOD IDEA! |I dropped the exhaust pipes for better performance, but failed to reconnect them properly. It had a hissing noise when i took it home. Busted.
When this came out, it got the attention of everyone. It was akin to a space ship going down the street. A classmate's dad had one, and he was a 1960's Mr. Cool with the '66 Toronado.
The subframe design of the first generation Toronado disappeared. The second generation used a separate body on frame design similar to Series Eighty-Eight and Series Ninety-Eight. It retained its torsion bar suspension system in the front but replaced the leaf springs in the rear with helical coil springs
Growing up we had a white '68 Toronado with a vinyl black roof. Was one of the most powerful cars I ever drove. I was 11 when my dad bought it. I can remember not being able to jack it up initially to change tires. What a spaceship. Wish I still had today
The only brand new car my Dad ever bought. but when he saw the '66 Toronado, he absolutely had to have one! Up until the day he died, he said it was his favorite car of all time! It was also fantastic in the snow when all other cars were rear wheel drive.
My friends dad was an affluent local doctor and owned a 66 Toranado. One weekend when my buddy's mom and dad were out of town, we took a short cruse. It was really something to lay scratch with the front wheels!
I was working at Oldsmobile when the Toronado came out. It was built next to the regular Olds assembly line. I remember it was so great in heavy snow. That front end was something with that mammoth v-8 engine in it.
Who remembers the cool fiberglass body motorhome built on this Toronado chassis? I can't remember the name but my ole childhood pal bought a used one of them the summer of 94 and took a fun full summer surf-safari trip with his new Brazilian wife and the kids driving from San Diego all up the coastline of PCH Rt 1 camping surfing having fun all along the coastal beaches ending up at Redwoods National Park. He always said that was the best trip and best time in his life and that that ole Toronado motorhome was a lot of fun to cruise and camp in and worked real well. 😎🐕
My cousin had one of these. He let me drive it when it was almost new. What an awesome machine. I bought a new 87 and 90 in later years. Other than a BMW 735, the best cars I’ve ever known
Even though it is before my time I have always been intrigued with the 66 Toronado so I'm pleased to now that a number of others feel it was special too. In fact it is on Car and Drivers top 10 significant cars list due to its front wheel drive. I like the headlights, instrument package and just about everything about it. Great video.
My very first car was an '84 Toronado. Even in the '80s (not a decade known for the greatness of American automobiles) it was a fantastic car. Comfortable, quiet, as fast as necessary, and, thanks to front-wheel drive, much less likely to end up upside-down in a ditch than most of its contemporaries. :)
I haven't seen a lot toronado in the streets i wish more people would restore them they look ageless also we need a review on this car that we can watch on TH-cam 😸
I never thought much of this car until I watched the movie The Dark Half. Jay making it rear drive takes it to the next level. I would love to have one of these in my garage!
My cousin had one of these 1966 Olds. Had a 455c.i. and it was pretty fast too. I dug the fact that because of the fwd transaxle there wasn't any driveline "hump" down the middle of the car.
The '66 Toronado excited nine-year old me when it was introduced, and it still excites me to this day, whenever I see photos or video of them. To me, the '66 Toronado, and the '67 Eldorado, were two of the best looking cars to date.
All those people who drool over 60's European metal wouldn't give this car a second thought, but why? I think this thing looks better than most of that stuff.
One of my favorite car jokes that Jay might like was, a Kentuckian Toronado is a 1959 Oldsmobile with mud grips on the front. Many years later, in the late seventys, a coworker stopped by to visit me and told me how he loved the Honda civic he had owned for a few years. We went out to look at it and I noticed he had nearly worn out mud grips on the back wheels. He did not know that it was front wheel drive.
I feel the same way about today's cars. When I was a young man, I could look at a car and tell you immediately, the cars make, model and year. Today's cars are bland, mostly plastic and of a boring, look alike design. They make a few great high performance engines but then wrap them in ugly plastic body's.
My father had one of these. They were the hot cars back then it was a 425 cubic inch motor with 385 brake horsepower and 485 ft lbs of torque but they weighed 4,322lbs
+Frost WP/LAX God Yes!! 0 to 130 like a dream. That's the fastest I ever took it. Loved the front wheel drive. Didn't have another front wheel drive again until 87. Would love to get a 66 Toronado. Handling was easy compared to the 73 Plymouth Fury I got off a state police auction. I was lucky to own some cool cars. Had a 68 Olds Cutlass, 68 Chevy Impala, 74 Plymouth Duster. But like most with a family you buy family cars. So I've had a 76 Malibu Classic, 79 Chevy Cheyenne ( with camper) before getting into mini vans. :/
+Frost WP/LAX To me it was. Fast and sleek. Plus being front wheel drive always give you better traction in snow because the weight is on the tires. The only car I truly miss.
We had a 68 and a 71. One winter my Dad drove me through a snowstorm to my girlfriend's house. Smashed through drifts taller than the hood on the county road. (Got too bad to pick me up, had to spend the night. Darn...)
I rode in a deep burgundy 1977 Toronado XS with the white glove soft leather pillow top seats once back in the early 1980s. One of the nicest riding, most comfortable cars, I have ever been in to this day.
FYI. In 1967 Canada celebrated its Centennial year. This was one of the most sought after cars that year. Every time you filled up at an Imperial Esso gas station you were given a pull tab with an opportunity to win a 67X which was a highly customized Olds Tornado. This car even had a television and bar set up in the back. There were only 4 ever made. I seen one at a car show a couple years later but never since.
I went to Junior high and elementary School virtually right next door to Fisher body and Oldsmobile on the west side of Lansing Michigan. I remember this car coming out in 1966 and I thought it was the coolest thing I ever looked at and yep the first one I saw was exactly the same color as Jay painted his car very unique styling nothing ever was built like it.
When I was a teenager, I remember looking through a Oldsmobile show room window at a new Silver Toronado, a very innovated piece of engineering back then. I was sure it was front wheel drive, that made it a bit risky to buy a this full size car. From the side body lines, it reminds me of the Buick Riviera back then.
My dad worked in GM's Advanced Styling (Preliminary Design) studio along with Bill Porter and others. I was told that he designed the preliminary concept for the Toronado by Bill Porter.
I had an opportunity to see one of these Toronados in person several years ago. It was unrestored, I don't believe it ran but damn did that design grab my attention. Toronado has to be one of the coolest looking cars GM has ever built.
I've always loved the 66-67 Tornado. There is a wealthy man that collects cars and runs a vintage car shop near where I live and he had a 66 in his collection that he later sold. Just a beautiful car, and I believe it was the same color as Jay's. Got to test drive it, but couldn't get them down to a price I could afford.
one of the most beautiful car designs---ever. i only wish you could show the four-door version, where the doors opened from the shaft in the middle, not from the body of the care in the back and front. it looks soooo unreal and magnificent.
I was 16 and my Dad and I were doing what American men did in those days in September...going to the dealerships to see the new models! At the Olds dealer, they hadn't released the Toronado to the public, but the salesman took us into the shop where they had one waiting. I was in teenage boy heaven! FWD! No hump! Hidden headlights! And the look was unlike anything else on the road. Dad had bought a '64 Riviera, a truly beautiful car, but traded it in when we moved to California...commuting in a car that got 8mpg just wasn't going to fly. I went to bed that night praying he'd go for the Toronado, but no...he bought a '56 356A used (for $500! Yeah. Not lying.) I never got to drive that either. Sigh.
My shop teacher in High school had one of these in gold. Beautiful car. He told me it got about 7 mpg, and needed $7 per gallon of gas to run (for 110 octane plus lead substitutes) Baller.
Imagine walking into an Oldsmobile showroom in 1966, and along with all the other plain Jane Oldsmobiles of the year, you see this badass machine. Never been a fan of FWD, but Toronados were cool.
Coming full circle with this one. I paid $425 for a '66 white Toronado in September 1972 in New Brunswick, NJ. I was just short of age 200 then, and after a host of $70, $80, and top price $100 American cars, this was the cat's miaw. Loved the all-flat floorboard. The thing was huge and gurgled gasoline, but at 27.9 cents per gallon for leaded gasoline, I could still manage to fill it up. Sold it about 7-8 months of ownership after an accident. Now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have?
When I was kid there was an old guy that collected these. He had like 23 of them in perfect condition, and a few more for parts. Since he died they have just been sitting in the garage.
In 1966 I was six years old and living in a modest Chicago suburb. Neighbors a few doors down, a beautiful couple, brought one of these home and pulled in, got out and stood back looking at their car. Everyone who was near stopped what they were doing and walked up to see. You should have heard that car laying the beef in park. I have been a fool for the car and truck world since then. You really need to put this side by side with its contemporaries to see what Olds really achieved. Thank you J.
This is a fantastic comment, really makes me imagine the scene and the effect the car had on you and others. Thanks.
God bless America
This was definitely a reminder of a more elegant car from a more civilized age. I'm a bit younger than you but, yes...living in the suburbs of ANY American city and hearing about someone in the neighborhood "bringing home a new car" was truly a civic and community event into the 70's and 80's. It wasn't so much about the car unless it was something special and or unusual like this Tornado or a Corvette...it could literally be ANY new car being brought home in the neighborhood. And it was a symbol of that family's success and it was a real celebration by the neighborhood of that success. We would have an impromptu, informal potluck right there on the sidewalk in front of the lucky family's house. The host would setup some tables and then piles of food would just show up from all corners of the block. The men would stand around with the hood open discussing the engine and transmission while the ladies would keep the food in order and the drinks cold with the occasional comment about "grocery capacity" of the trunk. Finally, the kids would be running around in the yard and taking turns sitting in all the seats or if it was a station wagon, we'd pile into the back with the rear facing "tail-gunner" seats. They were not always the best of times but, they were the only times we ever knew...
@@1969EType Amazing! In my youth I watched the slow transformation of households to two cars. Guess I was lower middle class...
I don't know how many people think so, but I think this is one of the most beautiful American cars ever designed.
corvusala ...
The Toronado. Riviera. Eldo. Mark III. Mark IV. Mercury had many beautiful cars. Even Chrylser! There were so many it was mind boggling.
The 60s was truly the peak of automobile beauty. Nothing to this day can compete.
Possibly, but today's cars are so much better in every other way. I don't miss carbs or automatic chokes or dashboards that rattle or fenders and quarter panels that start rusting out after 3 years.
If you want to talk about the best American cars ever made I would bring up the 2010 Mustang Cobra or early 2000's Corvettes. If you're a truck person there has never been a better time than right now except for the prices.
Absolutely when I think of America I think of this car
One of the most beautiful cars ever made in my opinion.
Might be my favorite
I'm a retired automotive designer. I was in high school when the '66 Toronado came out, and it was one of the cars that inspired me to go into the field. Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to meet Jay Leno through a friend of his, and Jay gave me and another designer a tour of his car collection. I was really impressed with how knowledgeable he was, but most of all I was impressed at how down to earth he was.
Did you go to Vietnam?
You lived every car guys dream. He really is the real deal, right?
nofooIn Cool! What cars did you design?
Oh, really? What cars have you worked on?
@@johntechwriter I'm the person that wrote the comment. The nofooln Gmail account was closed a while ago, and your question made it to another email that uses the nofooln name.
I was at Chrysler for 30 years and worked on a number of programs. I started on the K Car interior and moved to exterior design after that. Programs include the G Body, J Body, H Body, T115 minivan, LH cars, N Body minivan, second gen Neon, some Viper development, PT Cruiser, various Dodge Truck projects, and finally the Challenger. I started as a designer on the board and retired as a studio director.
It was an interesting career seeing the company evolve over the years!
One of the most perfect car designs ever.
I was 14 when this showed up on the streets. I thought it was amazing. I still love the way it looks.
We owned a 67 Toronado. It was a great car for a number of reasons. My favorite thing (because I was a little kid), was the button on the inside of the glove compartment that opened up the trunk. I LOVED to press that button.
Jay is soo lucky to be able to buy and restore all of these cars! I envy him and admire him because he´s still not bragging about it! Would love to meet him and to see all the fantastic cars!
I was 16 when these came around, my good friend 's dad bought a gold one like in this video, and an emerald green with beige vinlyl top for his mother, they owned the shrimp packaging plant in my hometown on the Texas gulf coast. These cars had a speedometer that registered to 150mph! We outran the state patrol all the way from Port Lavaca to Mustang Island in one, and slid onto the ferry that took people to Mustang Island from Port Aransas, we were already in the channel and saw the cops slide up to the gate unable to get to us. They came the next day to the house in Palacios and issued the ticket the next day. We would back up and shift it into forward and smoke the front tires for a block and a half. Friggin so powerful muscle cars back then. 455 motors were awesome!
Forest Gump really liked this car..
My mom had a white one in the early 70's in Corpus Christi. She said you could get it out on the interstate and said before you knew it, you were doing 100mph. A real smooth fast car.
Not gold but bronze, like the Citroëns that inspired it. Your abuse of the car’s FWD was echoed by the sons of our town ‘s GM dealer. Known to be rich-kid creeps by all us teens their age, they tried to do a wheelstand by putting the car in reverse, applying the brakes, and flooring the throttle. That car was sold as new to a middle-aged man, known in our small town as a drinker. One night, loaded, he entered a sharp turn at speed and plowed off the road into a tree, resulting in his death. Thank goodness he did not cause the death of some innocent passenger, as is so often the case.
My brother had 1 of these ... I stold it as I did often..with my brother, and his cars. It was quite a surprise when I did a burnout and the right front tire started smoking...this was my introduction into front wheel drive...thank bro after all these years..
I still remember being picked as one of the students in my fourth grade class to have breakfast with my teacher at the end of the 1965-66 school year. She and her fiance pulled up in my parents' driveway in his car -- a brand new dark red 1966 Olds Toronado! To me it was the closest thing to riding in a starship that I could have ever experienced! It looked like no car I had ever seen before. It had A/C, power windows, tilt and telescoping steering wheel -- stuff we take for granted now, but it felt like a ride in a limousine to 9-year-old me!
A mid 1960's car that sets the tone for car designs into the future.
Oh hey Leo neat seeing you here, I was watching your newest cat scuffle video earlier today.
How about a full video on this Toronado, Jay, it deserves it.
He doesn't want to get the blowback from nixing the original front wheel drive set-up and LS-ing it.
Owned one. Loved it. Best car ever.
@@pnotuner1 i get that, but he should. it took a lot of custom engineering to do that type of conversion. for the power-plant he wanted, just wasn't enough room for that and front wheel drive. this project is a bit odd for Jay, he usually favors a back to factory spec type resto. glad to see him thinking outside the box on this one.
Mr Grandfather owned a Studebaker, Mercedes-Benz dealership in St. Petersburg FL. Stewart Jones Motors. My Dad was Sales Manager and one of the things he would do was drive home different trade-ins, to help keep their batteries charged. My "role" was to wait for my Dad, to see what car came up our driveway. I would then sit in the driver's seat & study the car inside & out. Plus, I always read the Owners Manual. I was born in 1958, so my car education came during the 1960s, what ever Dad was driving home at the time. It provided a well rounded appreciation for different manufacturers makes & models. If he found a car he particularly enjoyed, he would repeatedly drive home the same car, until sold. One of the cars he liked was a 1966 Toronado also in the gold color. For a kid, one of the coolest features were the pop-up CORVETTE headlights, as I called them. I vividly remember riding up front with my Dad. (Also loved the flat floors.) When he turned on the lights, seeing the headlight doors popping up as viewed while inside the car, made me feel I was riding in a sports car. GM Design was so beautiful during the 60s. The 1966 Tornado is one of my fond automotive childhood memories. Takes Jay for bringing in the Designer, to educate us.
Kenneth Jones Was
Sad that Studebaker went out of business
My grandfather had a 66 toro and my dad drove it a few times. He loved it. My dad and his dad took it out a did 125 mph. It was a great Oldsmobile. The look is still there.
1966 was a great year for Olds, especially owing to the Toronado and the 442 W-30. Only 54 1966 W-30's were produced. Very rare today. Dave Smith, now deceased, was the W-30 project engineer for the W-30. A brilliant engineer.
Still fun to watch. My father in law was an engineer for Sag steering gear, him and 4 other guys did the testing on this car in the dead of winter into Michigans U.P. some crazy photos of 40 below and 8 ft drifts.
One of my favorite cars from the 60s!
For an American car this is superb. He gave the reason why. It was not designed by committee.
MY Dad had this car in 1966. I was 16 year old and was tasked (yuk yuk) with taking the Tornado to the car wash twice a week.... That car was amazing. The sheer force of front wheel drive and me pressing the accelerator to the floor was so exhilarating! Nothing on the road that was stock could keep up with it... What a car!
A friend's dad bought a new gold '66 Toronado: About the coolest car then thru now that I've ever seen.
Beautiful car. I am so glad someone has kept one preserved so the public can have a look at it.
It was so exclusive it had its own dedicated assembly line for quality control. The second generation Toronado with all of their elegance and the emphasis on personal luxury, attracted many new buyers.
One of my fav jaylenogarage videos, i love how the guy explained the car in detail including what was happening in the era
Love the front end... a fantastic pedestrian killler. All that's missing are the rotating knives.
davidenespana Scoops up and throws aside bicycles as well!
the "rotating knives" were an option then; I guess you missed that. LOL.
How Ralph Nader of you to say.
Jay....... Your show is just full of awesome! When you hugged him at the end... WOW!!
I dont know who was more excited, Him or you?
That is why you are cool in my world!
Thanks again.
Elimination of the hump was a big part of the design of this car. I had a stepfather who always drove Toros, and loved them. I learned a bit about them from him,was a fairly prestigious car in the early 70's to those who knew what they were. Back in the 60's Olds was GM's highest quality car after Cadillac, That the 2 marques shared a platform in the toro/eldo showed how important this design was to them.Both were good in snow and ice,something not mentioned.
In my area when I was a kid you never saw a Tbird or Caddy, so in 1967 someone move in down the street and had a new Toronado in a dark metallic brown and looked like a car from the future.
I remember the low stance and fender flairs plus the huge slotted rims that cooled the drum brakes that had to stop this beast.
It still looks like a car from the future!
I was five years old when my dad bought one new in 66 that was a twin to yours
. He had many over the years. He passed in 2010 but I have 66 and 67 that he found in the early 1970's. I think of him every time I drive one. Thank you for making me feel five years old again and best wishes on your recovery.
Great episode, and Kudos to Jay for doing such an incredible job hot rodding his own vehicle!
Yea Jay and TH-cam. So glad these interviews and car stories are available for the world to enjoy. I was a senior in high school when the Toronado came out and it seemed like Oldsmobile had joined the space age. I agree that the 66 was the best in styling, but the addition of disc brakes in 67 was an improvement.
In 66 Toronado and Riviera had more fluid styling than the boxy T-Bird, but they all would have been better if a foot shorter and 500 pounds lighter. 🙂
My dad was a car nut, he bought the 1966 Toronado when first introduced. I was 17 years old, it was like a space ship to me. The most impressive thing was its size and long expansive hood.Being an incorrigible kid, one weekend when he was away on a business trip, (he foolishly left the keys in it), I decided to take it to the local drag strip. GOOD IDEA! |I dropped the exhaust pipes for better performance, but failed to reconnect them properly. It had a hissing noise when i took it home. Busted.
My Dad had a white '67 Toro with red interior. That was such a cool and unique car!
What a gorgeous machine.
Though I was never a big Oldsmobile guy the Toronado is truly beautiful.
When this came out, it got the attention of everyone. It was akin to a space ship going down the street. A classmate's dad had one, and he was a 1960's Mr. Cool with the '66 Toronado.
The subframe design of the first generation Toronado disappeared. The second generation used a separate body on frame design similar to Series Eighty-Eight and Series Ninety-Eight. It retained its torsion bar suspension system in the front but replaced the leaf springs in the rear with helical coil springs
Growing up we had a white '68
Toronado with a vinyl black roof. Was one of the most powerful cars I ever drove. I was 11 when my dad bought it. I can remember not being able to jack it up initially to change tires. What a spaceship. Wish I still had today
The only brand new car my Dad ever bought. but when he saw the '66 Toronado, he absolutely had to have one! Up until the day he died, he said it was his favorite car of all time! It was also fantastic in the snow when all other cars were rear wheel drive.
Was a real beast! I remember all the front-end alignment issues with it.
My friends dad was an affluent local doctor and owned a 66 Toranado. One weekend when my buddy's mom and dad were out of town, we took a short cruse. It was really something to lay scratch with the front wheels!
i can't belive that this desing went from the draw table straight to line production, pretty neat !!
I was working at Oldsmobile when the Toronado came out. It was built next to the regular Olds assembly line. I remember it was so great in heavy snow. That front end was something with that mammoth v-8 engine in it.
....I LOVE that car! ... Timeless classic..
Who remembers the cool fiberglass body motorhome built on this Toronado chassis? I can't remember the name but my ole childhood pal bought a used one of them the summer of 94 and took a fun full summer surf-safari trip with his new Brazilian wife and the kids driving from San Diego all up the coastline of PCH Rt 1 camping surfing having fun all along the coastal beaches ending up at Redwoods National Park. He always said that was the best trip and best time in his life and that that ole Toronado motorhome was a lot of fun to cruise and camp in and worked real well. 😎🐕
My grandfather, Chuck Mason, designed the rear end of the ‘66 toronado :)
wish I could see more of this car...ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
Reminds me of the 66 Lincoln Continental. An instant classic, great lines, and a feeling of power.
My cousin had one of these. He let me drive it when it was almost new. What an awesome machine. I bought a new 87 and 90 in later years. Other than a BMW 735, the best cars I’ve ever known
Even though it is before my time I have always been intrigued with the 66 Toronado so I'm pleased to now that a number of others feel it was special too. In fact it is on Car and Drivers top 10 significant cars list due to its front wheel drive. I like the headlights, instrument package and just about everything about it. Great video.
My friend's dad drove us to see the Reds play a game at Riverfront stadium in his new Toronado. I think I was 14. I was impressed!
The architecture is far more luxurious than the previous generation Toronado. The second generation is larger and more Cadillac-like
My very first car was an '84 Toronado. Even in the '80s (not a decade known for the greatness of American automobiles) it was a fantastic car. Comfortable, quiet, as fast as necessary, and, thanks to front-wheel drive, much less likely to end up upside-down in a ditch than most of its contemporaries. :)
i LOVE That 66' Old's Jay has, That Sucker Has Some CRAZY POWER & I LOVE IT ... Your the Man Jay .........
I haven't seen a lot toronado in the streets i wish more people would restore them they look ageless also we need a review on this car that we can watch on TH-cam 😸
beautiful car! congratulations to jay leno for his fantastic car collection!
I never thought much of this car until I watched the movie The Dark Half. Jay making it rear drive takes it to the next level. I would love to have one of these in my garage!
Absolutely beautiful car, I have never seen one in person.
Love it, Jay is the luckiest car guy in the whole world, my dream car is this 66 Toronado.
My cousin had one of these 1966 Olds. Had a 455c.i. and it was pretty fast too. I dug the fact that because of the fwd transaxle there wasn't any driveline "hump" down the middle of the car.
The '66 Toronado excited nine-year old me when it was introduced, and it still excites me to this day, whenever I see photos or video of them. To me, the '66 Toronado, and the '67 Eldorado, were two of the best looking cars to date.
All those people who drool over 60's European metal wouldn't give this car a second thought, but why? I think this thing looks better than most of that stuff.
Great video and a beautiful piece of work! Cool to meet the designer too!
It's amazing how much you can learn in a month, Yesterday I started crawling xD You stay golden pony boy, you stay golden.
One of my favorite car jokes that Jay might like was, a Kentuckian Toronado is a 1959 Oldsmobile with mud grips on the front. Many years later, in the late seventys, a coworker stopped by to visit me and told me how he loved the Honda civic he had owned for a few years. We went out to look at it and I noticed he had nearly worn out mud grips on the back wheels. He did not know that it was front wheel drive.
This man designed one of the most dramatic and beautiful cars ever,i wonder what he thinks about the cookie cutter crap we see on the streets nowadays
that's the difference between a computer designed car optimizing airflow vs unoptimized imagination :)
@@sinephase well distilled: the computer vs the imaginative and artistic human mind! Case rested!
I feel the same way about today's cars. When I was a young man, I could look at a car and tell you immediately, the cars make, model and year. Today's cars are bland, mostly plastic and of a boring, look alike design. They make a few great high performance engines but then wrap them in ugly plastic body's.
@@kenjsr1 Quick quiz: Which car company makes the Tucson small SUV model? No peeking on the internet!
@@ronschlorff7089 Hyundai. Another one!
My father had one of these. They were the hot cars back then it was a 425 cubic inch motor with 385 brake horsepower and 485 ft lbs of torque but they weighed 4,322lbs
Rolled this car on GranTourismo, PS4. Easy to toss in the corners with power. Excellent!!
Owned a 1980, beautiful , and also bought an 84! Loved them...
Wow. If Jay calls you Dad, you are someone special to him. Nice car Dad.
One of my favorite cars, It looks so aggressive Clint Eastwood should’ve drove this in Dirty Harry It just screams “Get out of my way”
I learned how to drive in a 66 Toronado. LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+Frost WP/LAX God Yes!! 0 to 130 like a dream. That's the fastest I ever took it. Loved the front wheel drive. Didn't have another front wheel drive again until 87. Would love to get a 66 Toronado. Handling was easy compared to the 73 Plymouth Fury I got off a state police auction. I was lucky to own some cool cars. Had a 68 Olds Cutlass, 68 Chevy Impala, 74 Plymouth Duster. But like most with a family you buy family cars. So I've had a 76 Malibu Classic, 79 Chevy Cheyenne ( with camper) before getting into mini vans. :/
+Frost WP/LAX To me it was. Fast and sleek. Plus being front wheel drive always give you better traction in snow because the weight is on the tires. The only car I truly miss.
THE BEST SNOWMOBILE EVER MADE. With that 455ci boat anchor over the front wheels, it was BETTER in the snow than 4WD/AWD!!!!!
We lived in MI and that's the reason my dad bought 2 of em.
We had a 68 and a 71. One winter my Dad drove me through a snowstorm to my girlfriend's house. Smashed through drifts taller than the hood on the county road. (Got too bad to pick me up, had to spend the night. Darn...)
The '66 has a 425, not a 455, same in '67.
I rode in a deep burgundy 1977 Toronado XS with the white glove soft leather pillow top seats once back in the early 1980s.
One of the nicest riding, most comfortable cars, I have ever been in to this day.
Looks like this Toronado actually makes Jay happy,and he appears to genuinely smile about it...
My high school buddy's Dad had this, same color. Was amazing.
FYI. In 1967 Canada celebrated its Centennial year. This was one of the most sought after cars that year. Every time you filled up at an Imperial Esso gas station you were given a pull tab with an opportunity to win a 67X which was a highly customized Olds Tornado. This car even had a television and bar set up in the back. There were only 4 ever made. I seen one at a car show a couple years later but never since.
Nice car eh?
I went to Junior high and elementary School virtually right next door to Fisher body and Oldsmobile on the west side of Lansing Michigan.
I remember this car coming out in 1966 and I thought it was the coolest thing I ever looked at and yep the first one I saw was exactly the same color as Jay painted his car very unique styling nothing ever was built like it.
There's nothing better than an absurd amount of power in a sleeper. Seen it before, but I still love that car!
I can't believe that Olds & Pontiac are gone....great car....thanks Jay....respect to design
When I was a teenager, I remember looking through a Oldsmobile show room window at a new Silver Toronado, a very innovated piece of engineering back then. I was sure it was front wheel drive, that made it a bit risky to buy a this full size car. From the side body lines, it reminds me of the Buick Riviera back then.
Jay , please do a full review on this car , this is way too short and old . that car deserves a better video .
My dad worked in GM's Advanced Styling (Preliminary Design) studio along with Bill Porter and others. I was told that he designed the preliminary concept for the Toronado by Bill Porter.
I had an opportunity to see one of these Toronados in person several years ago. It was unrestored, I don't believe it ran but damn did that design grab my attention.
Toronado has to be one of the coolest looking cars GM has ever built.
I've always loved the 66-67 Tornado. There is a wealthy man that collects cars and runs a vintage car shop near where I live and he had a 66 in his collection that he later sold. Just a beautiful car, and I believe it was the same color as Jay's. Got to test drive it, but couldn't get them down to a price I could afford.
A great classic, truly elegant and beautiful!
No, the 2nd generation was the highest selling of all the generations. Facts! It was styled after the highly successful Cadillac Eldorado.
I didn't even know about this car up untill a week ago and started doing research on it, man it grew to my heart
these things were great in the snow. and i agree the '66 is the purest. fwd is awesome and a gutsy move for gm.
one of the most beautiful car designs---ever. i only wish you could show the four-door version, where the doors opened from the shaft in the middle, not from the body of the care in the back and front. it looks soooo unreal and magnificent.
I have an all stock 1968 Oldsmobile 98. Man I love that car.
Car was cool in 66, the car designer was cool in 66. Flip forward to 2021, car is cool, designer is cool and Jay is cool.
I was 16 and my Dad and I were doing what American men did in those days in September...going to the dealerships to see the new models! At the Olds dealer, they hadn't released the Toronado to the public, but the salesman took us into the shop where they had one waiting. I was in teenage boy heaven! FWD! No hump! Hidden headlights! And the look was unlike anything else on the road. Dad had bought a '64 Riviera, a truly beautiful car, but traded it in when we moved to California...commuting in a car that got 8mpg just wasn't going to fly. I went to bed that night praying he'd go for the Toronado, but no...he bought a '56 356A used (for $500! Yeah. Not lying.) I never got to drive that either. Sigh.
My parents had a 67 Toronado when I was a baby…50+ years ago. I would love to have one.
My favorite classic car .Coolest ever built 😎
My shop teacher in High school had one of these in gold.
Beautiful car.
He told me it got about 7 mpg, and needed $7 per gallon of gas to run (for 110 octane plus lead substitutes)
Baller.
Imagine walking into an Oldsmobile showroom in 1966, and along with all the other plain Jane Oldsmobiles of the year, you see this badass machine.
Never been a fan of FWD, but Toronados were cool.
Coming full circle with this one. I paid $425 for a '66 white Toronado in September 1972 in New Brunswick, NJ. I was just short of age 200 then, and after a host of $70, $80, and top price $100 American cars, this was the cat's miaw. Loved the all-flat floorboard. The thing was huge and gurgled gasoline, but at 27.9 cents per gallon for leaded gasoline, I could still manage to fill it up. Sold it about 7-8 months of ownership after an accident. Now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have?
When I was kid there was an old guy that collected these. He had like 23 of them in perfect condition, and a few more for parts. Since he died they have just been sitting in the garage.
One of my favorite cars of all time!!!
My father had a 66 In this same gold color. Loved that car.